Lara's ears perked up to the sound of a low, guttural voice speaking her name. Slowly, her eyelids separated from their stationary positions and she peered out from the darkness to the silhouetted figure behind the long iron bars. The man murmured her name once more into her and Alex's irriguous confinement, then he was silent.

Canvassing her surroundings carefully before she rose, Lara instinctively placed one hand to her gun-belt and inched toward the motionless person on the opposite side of the bars. Lara could barely detect any sign that he was even breathing; an evanescent thought came to her mind that he looked rather like a static photograph, one that a person might see at an art gallery. But then she truly recognized him. He was the man whom she had spoken with before even boarding the helicopters.

"Hello," the man said meekly.

Croft had to scrutinize the man for a moment before she spoke. Had his voice not sounded menacing a moment ago? Perhaps it was the crude accommodations that drove her to so poorly discern her situation. Relieving herself from her thoughts, Croft nodded to the man opposite her. She watched as a single light flooded into the aphotic room from an unseen doorway; the area where they stood was now decently lit for conversation.

"Lady Croft, I'm afraid it's five o'clock, time to go."

Unmoving, the tomb raider stood there for a moment, one slender finger playing with the handle of her gun inside of its holster.

"I never got your name, soldier," she said authoritatively. The man's eyes traveled to the floor for a moment but then he returned her emotionless gaze.

"I...I'm Tom Lerone," he said nervously, giving her twin pistols a cursory glance.

Lara didn't need to follow his eyes to know that Tom was afraid of Lara and her precious firearms. She felt pity for this particular mercenary; in fact, she had a completely different perspective of him. He didn't act like a soldier, at least not like the others that she had encountered so far. There was undoubtedly something distinct and separate about him.

"Hello, Tom," Lara said kindly, as if the pair had never met before. "My name is Lara Croft."

She watched his tight face form an apprehensive smile.

"You seem very uptight about something, Tom. May I inquire as to what?"

The smile disappeared and Tom Lerone fell silent. His eyes sunk to the floor again and he couldn't keep still; Lara's eyes were intently on him, but it only made him more nervous. Observing him briefly, Lara knew what was on his mind.

"Taking cognizance of you, Mr. Lerone, I'd say that your loyalty to whomever you are serving here is factitious. I believe other thoughts govern your mind."

If it weren't for the door slamming open, Tom would have told Lara exactly what he was thinking. But unluckily, another mercenary trudged into the room, positively spewing belligerence.

"TOM! We told you to shove Croft out of her cell! What the 'ell do you think you're doin'? Grab the bitch, kick the guy 'til he's awake, and let's get the hell out of here! Vlad's not gonna be happy if we dick around too much! We're on a time limit here..."

Tom watched as his fellow soldier walked back out of the room until he chose to speak again:

"I'm sorry about this, Lara. Could you wake up your friend?"

"His name is Alex West. Make sure you spread that around; I'm not positive he likes being called otherwise."

Tom smiled at her. When the two tomb raiders were sufficiently awake, the trio headed outside and into the new morning. Darkness refused to let go of the skies, but soon the sun would take over and rise to its full glory; darkness would not prevail for long.

That goes for this 'Vlad' as well, Lara thought darkly.

"Croft, so nice of you to join us! And you... sir."

"His name is Alex West, Commander." Tom whispered to Vladimir. Vlad gave the soldier a sour smile and waved him away.

"Throw these two in a chopper and let's be on our way."

That was three hours ago. Now the groups of helicopters were flying to their specified destination; Lara and Alex would have to wait to see exactly where they were going. And then five hours passed. Croft had a vague idea of where they were being taken, but she wasn't sure. All she knew was that what Vladimir and his mercenaries wanted to find, she had to prevent them from taking.

When the shuddering of the helicopter blades ceased to shake the interior, Lara opened her eyes and peered out an adjacent window. The amount of greenery she saw was breathtaking; this meant that they could only be in one place.

"Alex. Alex. ALEX, wake up!"

"Wha...? Where are we?"

"New Zealand."

"Ah."

"Yes, and it seems that we're not quite through with our journey. They're refueling; we've got a bit more ways to go."

"Wake me up when we get there then."

Lara sighed. He could be so difficult sometimes... But her thoughts were derailed when the door opposite her swung open to reveal Commander Vladimir.

"Lady Croft, we'll be traveling for another three hours if that suits you fine. We're heading deeper into the country, and there will lie our objective, which you will help us obtain. Of course, if you choose not to assist us, there will be a small price to pay..."

Lara watched as Vladimir's hidden left arm now pulled away from behind the open door. He was holding the collar of Bryce's shirt.

She felt her mouth drop and her eyes lose their emotionless stare. How could Vladimir have tracked Bryce down and captured him? But her answer walked up to the helicopter.

"Hello, Lara."

It was Willem Parse- the man she had met on the plane. He was working against her! He had spied on them! Carefully, Lara changed her expression from mildly shocked to "piss off and leave me alone". But her eyes still trained on Bryce.

"Lara," her tech said softly, "I'm sorry; they just came and there was nothing I could do! And they found the..."

"The Amulet," Vlad finished. "And such a beauty it is, Lady Croft. I wonder... is this boy here close enough to you to force your assistance? Or will we have to find new means of... persuasion?"

From his leather belt, Vlad produced a single blade and held it up to Bryce's face. Lara felt nothing but contempt as she immediately un-holstered her pistols and aimed them directly for Vladimir's head. Her gaze was penetrating in its defiance; her full lips curled into a sneer as rage poured from every ounce of her being. If Vladimir hurt Bryce, there wouldn't be anything left of the commander after Lara was through with him.

A low laugh filled her ears. "Lara, Lara, Lara. You can't kill me yet! And besides, even if you shoot me, I have men all around this area. If you shoot me, you'll never see this little boy again."

"I'm not a little boy, you wanker! I'm a bloody adult, now piss off!" Bryce squirmed but couldn't get away. It seemed like all was hopeless; Lara would have to acquiesce. Her steely gaze faded none as she spoke:

"Now that you've given me even more reason, Mr. Vladimir, I will surely kill you. Bringing Bryce into the matter only sealed your own fate." She lowered her weapons and holstered them.

Vladimir merely stared at her for a moment before he sheathed his knife and threw Bryce toward Willem, who caught him and led him to a nearby helicopter. The commander smiled at Lara mischievously.

"We shall see, Lady Croft. If you are as good as everyone says you are, I shall die. But possibly, not by your hands..."

And with that, he shut the door.

Lara was there to ponder what he said, and for three hours, she did. And in those three hours, the helicopters made their way to their final destination.

The day dwindled as the mercenaries, Lara, Bryce, and Alex jumped from their helicopters. The trio was forced apart as they followed Vladimir. Seemingly, the soldiers seemed to have thought that splitting up the three would have done them good. But no... they were wrong again.

Now Lara could see exactly where they were going. They were headed toward an active volcano site; but not only one volcano resided there. There were twelve- twelve active vents for a massif. Why did they have to be here?

"They say one eruption happens every fifty years," Vladimir yelled back to the lines that followed him. "It's been fifty-two since the last one."

Behind her, Lara heard Bryce groan. Truthfully, she wasn't too thrilled about being there either; these volcanoes could erupt at any given moment. She proceeded more cautiously after that.

But there was no need to continue their trek. Vladimir stopped in front of a large rock formation and reached into his pockets; he then placed both amulets onto the solidified lava.

Suddenly the ground began to shake. Everyone's eyes darted toward the surrounding volcanoes, but that was not the case. The rock that Vlad had placed the amulets on now deliquesced and formed a gaping hole in the ground. Before their very eyes, the blackened lava formed a solid set of stairs that led into the ground. Expressing no fear, the commander headed down the stairs and into the dark.

Lara was one step closer to what she had secretly dreaded the entire time.